Last-Minute eCommerce Tips: Quick Christmas Fixes

Just four weeks to Christmas! Ready to jingle all the way?

Remember that BFCM can be the biggest weekend of the year’s busiest shopping season, yet it marks just the beginning of a month of consistent shopping, a treasure hunt for the perfect gifts. It sure becomes the busiest shopping month of the year. Although it is a little late for any significant site changes, yet eCommerce stores can make some eleventh-hour eCommerce tips to maximize sales and enhance the customer experience.

Most shoppers should have checked their Christmas shopping during the BFCM weekend, getting considerable discounts in an ideal world. But it isn’t an ideal world. About 62% of the shoppers procrastinate their Christmas shopping up to the weekend just before Christmas.

So, it seems that you do have some time left for those last-minute tweaks to maximize sales and enhance customer experience.

If you feel that your eCommerce store is lagging in the competition, you can refer to this list that we have put together to help you get up to speed in a few days.

Like the nine reindeer of Santa, we bring you nine tips to ramp up your holiday season in the final lap.

Tip #1: Have one final good look over the last holiday season

Tip #2: Work on 24×7 customer support

Tip #3: Go all in on holiday deals and discounts

Tip #4: Use the power of holiday email marketing

Tip #5: Promote gift cards and vouchers front and center

Tip #6: Decorate your eCommerce store in the spirit of Christmas

Tip #7: Hype the seasonal categories on your home page

Tip #8: If possible, offer extended returns

Tip #9: Be transparent about the delivery and shipping part

Jingle, Jangle, What do we hear?
It’s not a reindeer sleigh!
It must be eCommerce Santa,
Hurrying your way!

Have One Final Good Look Over the Last Holiday Season

One thing we learned in 2020 is that the world can change at any moment. Unfortunately for us in the digital commerce industry, the eCommerce landscape has been growing steadily even after post-pandemic shenanigans. Hence, we can somewhat see similar eCommerce holiday season 2021 trends as in 2020. So, take a good look over your traffic, sales, and bestsellers. Feature the bestselling products again, maybe leverage cross-selling and up-selling. Analyze your best days during the last season and tease the best discounts on those days. Keep up with keywords that led to maximum conversion and add them to your holiday section content.

Work on 24×7 Customer Support

If you really want to win this game, you have to step up your customer support. Costumers crave convenience and ease of purchase, along with a great experience across all touchpoints. And foolproof customer support does guarantee an excellent CX. Your shoppers will have an infinite number of queries during the holiday season, ranging from the checkout process to delivery updates. You can implement 24×7 customer support via AI chatbots and empathetic customer service executives. Make sure your contact info is visible on the eCommerce store. This will help you establish trust among them and possibly lead to conversion, even repurchases contributing to customer loyalty and thus reducing the churn rate.

Go All-in on Holiday Deals and Discounts

Who doesn’t like hot deals or attractive discounts? Especially holiday shoppers have a weak knee for holiday discounts. According to the shoppers surveyed by Deloitte in 2018, around 74% of the shoppers claimed that getting a great deal was their top priority for holiday shopping. You have tremendous room to play here, like free shipping, bonus gifts, loyalty vouchers, and reward points. So, do not skimp on deals and attract those customers. Actually, around 85% of the shoppers prefer free to fast shipping during the holidays.

Use the Power of Holiday Email Marketing

All marketing channels have their benefits during the holidays, but holiday email marketing has an impressive ROI. They say that you could earn up to forty-two times for every dollar invested in an email campaign. So, do not shy away from connecting with your customers via emails. Try and use personalized and relevant content and elaborate visual messaging. Use holiday email campaigns to spread awareness about your bestsellers. Hard-hitting content is also a conversion driver and might help you revive abandoned carts. So, use this tool without hesitation.

Promote Gift Cards Front and Center

Gift cards are one of the most sought-after gifts during the holidays, with almost 17% of Americans wanting to receive one as a gift. Hence, there is a sharp rise in the purchase of holiday gift cards too. 48.28% of the total annual selling of gift cards just happened in December 2020. So, you have to make sure that your shoppers can find them easily on the landing page of your eCommerce store, especially if the shipping deadline of the products passes past December 25th.

Decorate your eCommerce Store in the Spirit of Christmas

This one is a no-brainer. Holiday decorations should not necessarily be limited to brick-and-mortar stores. Your eCommerce stores should reflect the charm and vibrancy of the season to relate to customers’ holiday spirit. This will help reduce the bounce rate as the visitors might stay for a while longer. You can hire professionals to help you add on more to your eCommerce store, giving your customers a positive virtual experience.

Hype the Seasonal Categories on your Home Page

No customer wants to click through a dozen pages to find the product or category they want to browse. Make the shopping experience convenient for your shoppers by displaying Christmas-specific categories on the home page. Also, you can keep Christmas as the first category in your product categories section. You can also use attractive taglines and names such as ‘Gifts for Her,’ ‘Gifts under $50’ or ‘Office Secret Santa.’

If Possible, Offer Extended Returns

During the Holiday season, unwanted gifts often take longer than the usual statutory period to reach back to the customer for them to return. Many eCommerce retailers are still inflexible regarding this situation. Well, you can be part of the change to put the customer first and extend the returns period during the Holiday season. There might be costs associated with this, but it is an excellent step towards customer satisfaction and loyalty. Also, this might be good PR.

Be Transparent about the Delivery and Shipping Part

People will worry about the delivery even before making a purchase. So, the best thing to do is to clarify the delivery date and shipping costs before purchasing. Do not promise anything that you cannot fulfill. If you can offer free shipping, then do show that off. Also, be transparent about deadlines to ship for the holiday arrival. This might prevent impulse purchases and hence avoid returns, thus subconsciously rendering a positive experience. Do not try to be subtle. Instead, be big and bold about the estimated delivery dates and shipping charges.

We have tried our best to cover some of the most crucial last-minute Christmas tips for your eCommerce store. Now the onus is onto your to cross off this quick-fix eCommerce holiday checklist. Also, if you need a partner in crime and search for reliable digital commerce partners, our eCommerce experts are happy to help during the Holiday season and beyond.